An Old Chestnut

OK, i know it's a dun, but painting horses is one of those issues that seems to have troubled wargamers since prehistoric times. I'm currently contemplating painting some cavalry next so i had a look through the vintage ranks - looking for inspiration and tips from the 'great masters'. I came across this Hinchliffe ECW officer by Phil Robinson and, although in general i find his horses a bit garish, i do like the effect he's achieved here. The horse has been washed in a tan colour, most of which has been wiped off, and then shadows have been applied in a mid grey. Details have been lined in brown ink (since unfortunately aged to black) in the usual Robinson style.

A funny thing is how my photography just doesn't do the Robinson figures justice - this isn't just down to my ineptitude as usually my own figures actually come out looking better then they really are....very odd...

Where i think i go wrong with horses is in not being bold enough - they benefit from a bit of drama in just the same way as human figures. With that in mind we'll see how i do with the next batch i smear paint onto (ETA Christmas - judging by my current workload).

All Roads Lead To....

Donald Featherstone (at least as far as post-war UK wargaming is concerned).

I was one of probably many who were drawn into the hobby during the 1970s and 80s by pictures of Peter Gilder's wargames, and, as PG himself told us, he was introduced to wargaming by Featherstone - so in the end we are all children of The Don, so to speak....

The above scan comes from Wargamers Newsletter 146 May 1974 and i suspect the two photos will be known to you already having been published in various books and magazines over the years. They were taken during one of Don Featherstone's visits to Peter Gilder's home in Norfolk in the early months of 1964. The game depicted is ACW - and this is before Airfix released their ACW range, so most of the 20mm figures will be conversions.

Again this comes to us via Clive - who has contributed so much content recently that i may have to start paying him a salary... BTW, i welcome any and all relevant content (pictures, scans, anecdotes..whatever) as inevitably your stuff will be far more interesting than my stuff. I can be contacted via the email address in my Blogger Profile.

You Can't Get The Staff

Well, you can, but with the Hinchliffe range you have to be prepared to do a bit of hacking in order to add a bit of variety.

Inspired by the recent Bill Gaskin postings i knocked these out recently - they may not be to the same standard but i'm fairly pleased with them. They are all Hinchliffe figures (apart from the grey which is a Steve Hezzlewood designed RSM piece) converted to some degree (e.g. the bloke on the grey started life as Thomas Picton...talk about coming down in the world...).